Deck the Halls
by Red Lips and Black Hearts
Summary: This is how the BUS ended up being decorated with a burned Christmas tree and half-finished popcorn garlands, and none of them would have had it any other way. (T because language)


**Greetings, children. So tumblr blog fixthistogether is releasing a series of prompts during the hiatus, and the first one is "The team gets into the holiday spirit by decorating the BUS!" Got a little carried away with it. It was originally supposed to just be some cute FitzSimmons fluff but I couldn't resist putting some TripSkye in there too. Hope you all like it. And if you want to participate in ficthistogether, here is the link with the information:**

** fixthistogether. tumblr post/105277905109/whoa-guys-thats-been-a-hell-of-a-half-a-season**

**They release new prompts every Monday!**

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Ah, Christmas. A time for gift giving, festivities, appreciation of all the joys in life—

"No! You can't put that one there!"

"What are you talking about? It's fine where it is!"

"No it's not, Fitz! The entire balance of the design will be destroyed!"

"And when did you become the bloody queen of Christmas tree decorating?"

"You can't put a blue ornament _next to _another blue ornament! It's sloppy!"

_—and this. _

"It's _fine, _Jemma! Nobody will care!" Fitz yells in exasperation. Jemma rolls her eyes and her gaze lands on Skye, who has just entered the lounge area of the BUS.

"Skye! Quick question!"

"Oh, _here _we go," Fitz mutters under his breath.

"What's the gist, physicist?" Skye asks as she flops down on the couch and starts to snack on some chocolate covered pretzels.

"Biochemist, actually. Not that that's relevant. Anyway," Jemma takes a deep breath, putting an end to her rambling, "would you say it's acceptable to put two ornaments of the same color next to each other?"

"What? No, of course not! It's a universal rule!" Skye says with an expression that says _duh. _

"_Ha!_" Simmons exclaims with a satisfied smirk.

Fitz grumbles angrily as he moves the offending ornament to a Jemma-approved branch while the two ladies share amused glances.

"Oh quit being such a Scrooge, Fitz!"

"I am _not _being a—" he starts, but is quickly silenced with a kiss courtesy of Jemma.

"Let's finish this in good spirits," she says, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, "and then maybe afterwards we can move on to decorating my bunk."

Fitz's eyes go wide at his girlfriend's uncharacteristically obvious insinuation. Jemma's not really one for public displays of affection and he can't decide if he's terrified or completely turned on by her newfound boldness.

_Both, _he decides after a couple of seconds.

"Yeah," he says, placing his arms at her waist, "yeah, that sounds like a good plan." And then he pulls her in for another, much less professional kiss.

"Ugh, _gross!_" Skye exclaims, and FitzSimmons pull apart immediately, faces flushed with embarrassment. They had completely forgotten that the hacker was less than a hundred feet away from them. "I'm going to the kitchen now….have fun."

"Oh, we will," Fitz says with a smirk as Skye starts to walk away.

"Fitz!" Simmons yells, slapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"_You're _yelling at _me! _Now _that _is hypocritical!"

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well let me remind you that not even a minute ago _you _were the one who couldn't seem to keep your bloody hormones under control!"

"Are you complaining?"

Skye laughs and rolls her eyes as she enters the kitchen and the scientists' conversation fades out of her hearing range. She smiles when she sees Trip stringing together some popcorn garlands on the island. She sits down on a bar stool across from him.

"What's going on in there?" Trip asks, seeing her exasperated expression.

"Oh, the usual FitzSimmons stuff."

"Couldn't keep their paws off each other?"

"'Course not," Skye says. Trip laughs and passes her a bottle of beer.

"Well, at least we don't have to deal with their romantic tension anymore," Trip says.

"Cheers to that!" Skye replies, raising her drink and gesturing for him to do the same. They clink bottles and take rather large sips, then Trip gets back to stringing the garlands.

"Need some help?" Skye asks after a few seconds.

"Nah. But I'd like some."

The hacker grins like the Cheshire Cat and hops off her barstool, walking around the island to stand next to Trip. She grabs some thread and begins her own garland. Every so often their hands touch while reaching into the popcorn bowl, and each time Skye's cheeks flush red and Trip smiles so very slightly.

Skye starts to get hungry after a few minutes so she grabs a handful of popcorn and stuffs it in her mouth like the graceful lady she is. She's about to do it again but Trip slaps her hand away.

"Excuse you!"

"That's for the garlands," he says sternly.

"Screw the garlands, I'm hungry."

"You can eat when we're finished."

"Fine, Captain Buzz Kill," she says, grabbing a piece of popcorn and throwing it at his head. Something lights up in Trip's eyes that makes Skye want to hide in a corner.

"You did _not _just do that."

And so begins the Great Popcorn War of 2014. The kitchen quickly turns into a battlefield as Trip and Skye grab as much ammunition as they can, aiming at their respective enemy and taking shelter behind whatever piece of furniture is closest to them. In the end, Skye ends up waving the white flag when she's cornered and the popcorn bowl is dumped over her head.

"Truce?" Trip asks, smiling haughtily because of his victory.

"I don't think I have an option," she says, blushing at their close proximity. She's about to move away but she freezes and her breath hitches when he removes a piece of popcorn from her hair. He's still trapping her against the wall and he looks down at her and does that stupid little half-smile that she hates and she's freaking out because his hand is brushing her cheek and he's slowly moving closer and _oh God, my breath! Please tell me my breath isn't as bad as it tastes! _

"Hey there," she says awkwardly and winces when her voice comes out about two octaves higher than normal.

"Hi," he says, chuckling, and is about to close the distance between them when they hear a shriek coming from the other room.

"Fitz! Get the—"

"Fire extinguisher! Yeah, on it!"

The synchronization between Trip and Skye in that moment can rival FitzSimmons. They move away from the wall at the same time with a shared expression of '_what the fuck is going on' _and make a run for the lounge room. What they find is FitzSimmons running frantically around, trying to put out the fire that is rapidly spreading through the whole tree.

"There's another extinguisher in the kitchen," Trip says and runs back the way he came, leaving Skye unable to do anything but stand and stare at the hellish scene in front of her. Trip returns almost instantaneously and with two fire extinguishers, the flames are put out in a matter of seconds. They all resume breathing.

"What the hell just happened?" Trip yells, clearly not amused that he just almost became the Human Torch.

"The tree lights were too dull so we tried to make them brighter! Clearly something went wrong in the wiring." Fitz explains.

"Yes, clearly," Jemma adds harshly, though she can't hide the smile that's creeping up on her lips. She'd be lying if she said she didn't find it hilarious whenever he accidentally set things on fire (which happens way more often than he'd care to admit).

"We need to fix this," Fitz says, turning to Jemma.

"Blueprints are still in the lab. Shall we?" And then they walk away, discussing possibilities of what exactly went wrong in the rewiring of the lights as if they didn't almost cause the BUS to go down in flames not thirty seconds ago.

Trip and Skye look at each other in awe. "Unbelievable!" she shouts, laughing.

"Those two are quite the pair," he adds, shaking his head and walking away. Skye just stands there, staring at the burnt remains of the once glorious Christmas tree. She doesn't expect him to turn around and gesture for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?"

"To pick up the mess we made," Trip responds, grinning. She laughs and catches up to him. They walk their brief path in silence but Skye stops in the archway leading to the kitchen.

"Trip," she says, grabbing his arm and pulling him back towards her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned at her odd behavior. She just laughs and shakes her head, pointing upward. "Oh," he says, seeing what made her stop. Hanging from the archway is a stem of mistletoe wrapped neatly in a red bow.

Trip turns towards Skye and grins like a madman. "Well," he says, wrapping his arms around her waist. "It's not how I imagined it happening, but I'll take it." He slowly starts leaning towards her, but Skye grabs him by the shirt collar and all but crashes into him, smiling as his lips move against hers.

They never find out who planted the mistletoe. The prime suspect is Coulson, since he gives them a knowing smirk when they announce their relationship a few months later. They even mention FitzSimmons once or twice whenever the subject comes up, but they don't see how the could have pulled it off since they were in the lounge before the fire and then skipped off to the lab. They don't, however, suspect May, who was the one smiling triumphantly at her handiwork as the two young agents made up for lost time.

This is how the BUS ended up being decorated with a burned Christmas tree and half-finished popcorn garlands, and none of them would have had it any other way.

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